Introduction

When writing systematic reviews, PRISMA flow diagrams are essential for documenting study selection processes. However, manually creating these diagrams in LaTeX can be cumbersome. The prisma-flow-diagram package simplifies this process by providing structured commands while leveraging TikZ for high-quality rendering.

This post covers how to install and use prisma-flow-diagram to generate PRISMA 2009 flow diagrams in LaTeX effortlessly.

Installation

The prisma-flow-diagram package is available on CTAN and can be installed directly via TeX Live or MiKTeX package managers.

To manually install, download prisma-flow-diagram.sty from the GitHub repository and place it in the same directory as your .tex file.

Then, include the package in your LaTeX preamble:

\usepackage{prisma-flow-diagram}

Usage

The package provides intuitive commands to construct PRISMA diagrams efficiently. Below are the main commands:

Basic Commands

• \prismaflowstart – Initializes the flow diagram.
• \prismaflownode{<id>}{<position>}{<text>}{<arrow source>} – Defines a node.
• \prismalabel{<size>}{<position>}{<text>} – Adds a label.
• \prismaflowarrow{<source>}{<destination>} – Manually connects nodes.
• \prismaflowend – Ends the flow diagram.

Example

Here’s a complete LaTeX example using the package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{prisma-flow-diagram}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[H]
\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{
\prismaflowstart

% Identification phase
\prismaflownode{n1a}{left=of tc}{Records identified through database searching (n = 251)}{};
\prismaflownode{n1b}{right=of tc}{Additional records identified through other sources (n = 0)}{};
\prismaflownode{n2}{below=of tc |- n1a.south}{Records after duplicates removed (n = 41)}{n1a};
\prismaflowarrow{n1b}{n2};

% Screening phase
\prismaflownode{n3}{below=of n2}{Records screened (n = 210)}{n2};
\prismaflownode{n3r}{right=of n3}{Records excluded (n = 175)}{};
\prismaflowarrow{n3}{n3r};

% Eligibility phase
\prismaflownode{n4}{below=of n3}{Full-text articles assessed for eligibility (n = 35)}{n3};
\prismaflownode{n4r}{right=of n4}{Full-text articles excluded, with reasons (n = 4) \\ - Not Relevant (n = 3) \\ - Not Open/Available paper (n = 2)}{};
\prismaflowarrow{n4}{n4r};

% Inclusion phase
\prismaflownode{n5}{below=of n4}{Studies included in qualitative synthesis (n = 30)}{n4};
\prismaflownode{n6}{below=of n5}{Studies included in quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis)}{n5};

% Labels
\prismalabel{1.3*\mh}{n1a.west}{Identification};
\prismalabel{1.3*\mh}{n1a.west |- {$(n2)!0.6!(n3)$}}{Screening};
\prismalabel{1.3*\mh}{n1a.west |- {$(n4)!0.2!(n5)$}}{Eligibility};
\prismalabel{1.3*\mh}{n1a.west |- n6}{Included};

\prismaflowend
}
\caption{PRISMA 2009 Flow Diagram}
\label{fig:prisma}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

Final remarks

Creating PRISMA flow diagrams in LaTeX no longer needs to be a tedious task. With prisma-flow-diagram, you can generate clean, structured, and customizable diagrams efficiently. Try it out in your next systematic review and streamline your documentation workflow.

The prisma-flow-diagram package is licensed under LPPL 1.3c. Feel free to contribute via GitHub by opening issues or submitting pull requests.